Northern districts deprived of development funds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 1998, 07:46 GMT]Of the total money allocated for the Jaffna district in the 1998 Government budget, only 38.7% has been spent on different development programs, said administrative sources in Jaffna.

The Jaffna Secretariat has not yet received the remainder of the funds and there is little hope that these funds will be made available before the end of this year, said an official of the Jaffna Secretariat.

The Official further said that of the Rs 2,000 million allocated under the budget for the municipal council, local councils, foreign institutions and, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the North, only Rs 370 million has been disbursed.

Notably, the Rs 50 million allocated for the Education Department has not been delivered.

1998 is drawing to a close and if the allocated funds have not been made available how can one carryout the rehabilitation and reconstruction work, questioned the Official.

Out of the allocated Rs 336 million, only Rs 112 million (33.3%) was disbursed for the Vavuniya district; for the Kilinochchi district only Rs 4 million was spent out of the allocated Rs 44 million (9.1%); and for the Mullaithivu district of the Rs 44 million allocated funds not a cent has been spent, added the official of the Jaffna Secretriat.